per-120-human-body-beings
Get off my foot!
ANIMAL: Stickworm (Tunga penetrans)
SIZE: 1mm
WHERE: Skin (usually the sole of the foot) and nails
This tiny type of flea lives in sandy, warm, dry places like pigsties. During reproduction, the female lodges in the skin of mammals, such as pigs and humans, to feed. It can stay there for up to 15 days, causing inflammation, discomfort, itching and pain.
It’s obvious
ANIMAL: Clove (Demodex folliculorum)
SIZE: 4mm
WHERE: Epidermis
Is my friend! Those little black dots on your nose or forehead are not dirt. They are a living being – and a very ugly one! It is a type of mite, from the arthropod phylum. Contagion occurs through contact with other infected skin. Pregnant females migrate to the dermis of the new host and settle near the sebaceous glands to feed on their secretion.
Our body also has bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, in the intestinal flora, and fungi, such as Candida albicans, in the mouth and vagina, among other organs.
inconvenient guest
ANIMAL: Fly larvae (Dermatobia hominis)
SIZE: about 2cm
WHERE: Epidermis
The popular berne (or dermatobiosis) usually occurs in cattle, but it can also roll in humans, forming an infection similar to a boil. There, the larva passes the parasitic phase of its evolution, for up to 40 days. Then it falls to the ground, where it completes its development until it becomes a new bloodthirsty fly.
ANIMAL: Tick (Amblyomma cajennense)
SIZE: Up to 2 cm
WHERE: Skin There are over 800 species of this parasite. The most common in humans is the star tick, also called gunpowder and micuim. As it feeds on blood, it can transmit diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which, in the most serious cases, leads to tissue necrosis and even death.
It’s in your head
ANIMAL: Lice (Pediculus capitis)
SIZE: About 3mm
WHERE: Scalp
This nasty insect clings to hairs and feeds on blood. The female’s reproductive phase can last for weeks and she lays, on average, ten eggs per day (the famous nits). In addition to itching, the bug can transmit diseases, such as typhoid fever.
Humanity has been scratching its head for centuries: scientists even found lice in mummies in ancient Egypt.
Measuring tape
ANIMAL: Tapeworm (Taenia sollium or Taenia saginata)
SIZE: Up to 8m
WHERE: intestines
Not all of our “hitchhikers” are microscopic. This member of the flatworm phylum can be four times the height of the host! It enters our organism when we eat infected beef or pork and, as it is hermaphrodite, it is fertilized to continue its life cycle.
SOURCE: Article Bioecologia de Dermatobia hominis, by Simone Benghi Pinto, Vanete Soccol, Eliane Vendruscolo, Roberto Rochadelli, Paulo Ribeiro, Alaércio Freitag, Carlos Henemann and Márcio Uemura; Institute of Biomedical Sciences at USP and websites https://www.piolho.org.br and Jornaldaciencia.org.br